Preview FoxFooty Round Table Discussion

[happy_eagle]

For those that don't have foxtel, the FoxFooty channel has been doing a preview on all 18 teams this week in the lead up to the season.

This was the same round table discussion that a year ago had Jon Ralph reminding us that Tyson stenglein no longer played for us. Unfortunately Ralph the glorified blogger was on there again, with Dunstall, The great over analyser of stats David King, Brad Johnson and passionate Eagles fan Dermott Brereton
Here's a rundown of how they rated our prospects

Dermott - Shallow depth in midfield talent, unable to run out games
Johnson - Too many uncontested ball chasers (masten, shuey)
Dermott - Priddis won the brownlow because our mids are garbage
Dunstall - Very few good ball users (minus hurn)
King - Good team on paper, over rated players in reality

Ralph - Nic Nat is over rated because he only averages 13 possessions as a ruckman. Says Jack Watts is better because Nic Nat finished 9th in eagles b&f whilst Watts finished 10th in melbournes. Lucky to be all Australian. Needs to impact more games
Johnson - you are full of shit Ralphy you blogger (paraphrased )
Ralph - Needs more brownlow votes to be rated
Dunstall - probably needs to do more. Has potential to do more and his potential is key to us progressing
Ralph - he needs to do more boring stuff
King - scrutiny should be placed on midfield, not Nic Nat

Ralph - wellingham is the second most overrated player behind Nic Nat because he fell off a trampoline in 2012. Needs to improve

King - McGovern will be a star, but feels as though he is a natural forward

King - need to either bottom out and rebuild or fix a few holes to challenge. Need to make a move
King/Ralph - flat track bullies. Did not beat a side in the 8 last year
Dermott - should of been active in trade week
Johnson - drafted well. Likes Duggan and lamb
Dunstall - don't handle pressure. In the bottom 6 for kicking



Question to finish. Top 8 or bottom 8
Dermott- bottom 8
Ralph - bottom 8
Johnson - bottom 8
King - bottom 8/bottom 4
Dunstall - bottom 8/bottom 4


That was pretty much it

 

[WCEswift]

Victorian media, typical bs.

 

[tesseract]

"King - need to either bottom out and rebuild..."

Don't tell many an Eagles fan this, for they'll scream bloody murder and tell you it's against the spirit of the game blah blah hamster rationalization blah I want the Eagles to finish 8th and be finals fodder blah blah blah...

 

[Dark Sharks]

Are they wrong?

Apart from John Ralphs stupid criticism of Naitanui, they aren't exactly saying things we haven't heard or said here before.

I agree with most of the points they bought up to be honest, must be Vic biased too.

 

[tesseract]

Dermott - Shallow depth in midfield talent, unable to run out games - True
Johnson - Too many uncontested ball chasers (masten, shuey) -True in Masten's case, not so with Shuey.
Dermott - Priddis won the brownlow because our mids are garbage - Shuey is far from Garbage. Selwood is good, bar his kicking.
Dunstall - Very few good ball users (minus hurn) - Depends on how much is considered "very few". LeCras, Gaff, Masten, Sheppard, Shuey, McGovern, Ellis and apparently Duggan are good ball users.
King - Good team on paper, over rated players in reality - I don't think it's a case of overrated players, but underachieving somewhat as a team. Good team on paper should be getting better results than what they have done.

Ralph - Nic Nat is over rated because he only averages 13 possessions as a ruckman. Says Jack Watts is better because Nic Nat finished 9th in eagles b&f whilst Watts finished 10th in melbournes. Lucky to be all Australian. Needs to impact more games - Is this Jon Ralph or Ralph Wiggum?
Johnson - you are full of shit Ralphy you blogger (paraphrased ) - Seconded.
Ralph - Needs more brownlow votes to be rated - Translation: The umpires' subjective views is solely what makes a player "rated". Ralph Wiggum confirmed.
Dunstall - probably needs to do more. Has potential to do more and his potential is key to us progressing - True, but he's been injured and playing sore, Jase.
Ralph - he needs to do more boring stuff - Clag is my favourite. (nom nom)
King - scrutiny should be placed on midfield, not Nic Nat - Wiggum Jr ain't listening.

Ralph - wellingham is the second most overrated player behind Nic Nat because he fell off a trampoline in 2012. Needs to improve - (Sigh)

King - McGovern will be a star, but feels as though he is a natural forward- Indeed.

King - need to either bottom out and rebuild or fix a few holes to challenge. Need to make a move - Yes, yes, Yes!
King/Ralph - flat track bullies. - Correct.
Dermott - should of been active in trade week - No point spouting this unless you're going to cite examples of who WC should've went after.
Johnson - drafted well. Likes Duggan and lamb - Looking good thus far, but remains to be seen.
Dunstall - don't handle pressure. In the bottom 6 for kicking - Agree that the Eagles don't handle pressure. Not sure on the stats wrt bottom 6 in kicking.

 

[happy_eagle]

I thought it was a pretty honest appraisal apart from the bloggers points

 

[happy_eagle]

http://www.foxsports.com.au/video?v=round-table-west-coast_1227282787590&vc=210

 

[Keys]

King - need to either bottom out and rebuild or fix a few holes to challenge. Need to make a move

could be used to describe two thirds of the comp

And bottoming out is far from a proven method of achieving success

 

[Dark Sharks]

King - need to either bottom out and rebuild or fix a few holes to challenge. Need to make a move

could be used to describe two thirds of the comp

And bottoming out is far from a proven method of achieving success

Worked for Port. And us in 2011

On the other side of the coin.... Melbourne

 

[steve hucka]

King - need to either bottom out and rebuild or fix a few holes to challenge. Need to make a move

could be used to describe two thirds of the comp

And bottoming out is far from a proven method of achieving success

Bloody hell can't they see we are rebuilding ? One says should of been more active in trade period then says should bottom out, by going to the draft isn't that rebuilding ? You can't do a full rebuild in one year bloody muppets !

 

[Apex Predators]

Heavy on broad judgement but light on actual analysis from what I could tell. Take the Nic Nat discussion, as soon as Johnson rebuts a broad judgement, they brush over and go back to the general statement that he hasn't delivered the way he should.

People will take from it what they want

 

[Godfather32]

"King - need to either bottom out and rebuild..."

Don't tell many an Eagles fan this, for they'll scream bloody murder and tell you it's against the spirit of the game blah blah hamster rationalization blah I want the Eagles to finish 8th and be finals fodder blah blah blah...

I think it's too late now, last year was the year to do it if we were going to, but unless they had an agreement behind the scenes that it was going to happen it would have put Simpson in an awkward place as far as job security goes. Still, I'd love us to not worry too much about winning this year (I think the season is shot anyway) and just play all the kids and see what happens.

 

[SpaceClef]

Worked for Port. And us in 2011

On the other side of the coin.... Melbourne

Port never had a top 5 draft pick though, did they? Or was that because of GC/GWS? Either way, they drafted and traded well, it's not like they bottomed out and were gifted two top 5 picks like teams have in years gone by.

I didn't think us bottoming out in 2010 made that much difference. Gaff is not the type of player who transforms your side, but I guess Darling was a priority pick and helped us get Lycett as well, so in that sense it did help

 

[BITW]

I watched it and thought it was pretty much on the money. Nic Nat doesn't need 30 possesions a game to have an impact on it, we could all agree though that he needs to do a bit more, though.

Derm was right that we have one of, if not the worst, midfield depth in the league. Hopefully Sheed, Duggan and consistent years from Shuey, Gaff et all fix that.

 

[Suma Magic]

Better to be under-rated than over-rated.

 

[WCErevival]

Worked for Port. And us in 2011

On the other side of the coin.... Melbourne

Add to that Carlton and Richmond

 

[Eastern Rangers]

Dunston - Highlights his innumerable stupidity with a belief we should have gone down the trade route. A very dumb idea.

Why we're bottom six for kicking isn't actually talked about? we kick too much and need more overlap and run. We don't generate enough uncontested ball through run. Which has a negative effect on ball movement and puts pressure on individual kickers, which reduces kicking efficiency. Just saying they're bad kicks is football illiterate as it gets.

Don't handle pressure well. Compared to the competitions best but we're a middle of the road contested side, not a massive relative weakness and removing hot heads like Masten, Butler ect... can only improve us in this regard.

Dermott - Is kind of right about right on Priddis winning the brownlow. Not sure there is anything to say about us running out games, not enough evidence to suggest it. We don't kick easy goals, which hurts your scoring rate at the back end of games. See our slow ball movement.

Johnson - It's no wonder he wound up in the media and not in coaching if he thinks Shuey chases the uncontested ball, which is actually part of his role given his ability by foot. Thinks he knows a lot about the draft because of his links to AIS. Herpa derp.

Ralf - Nothing to say about him. Not an opinion worth criticizing.

King - Good team on paper... Because we have round about quality that should keep us out of the bottom six, a potent forward half and a lackluster midfield group. The question mark on 2015 is our defense, we've lost a lot of depth there. The last part wasn't mentioned?

He's right on Naitanui. In fact i'm not sure why Naitanui was even a talking point after his non 2014. When he's fit and firing his influence is unquestionable.

Wellingham was over rated at Collingwood, hasn't done anything to be rated sine arriving here. Not an issue anyway, hasn't performed so any performance from him falls into the plus side.

 

[Dark Sharks]

Dunston - Highlights his innumerable stupidity with a belief we should have gone down the trade route. A very dumb idea.

I think his name is Dunstall.

Could be wrong though.

 

[Adzam]

a lot of true accurate criticisms in there. A lot of crap too but I feel that would probably be the same for every club they analyse.

 

[West Coast 06]

It's not necessarily what they say , but the way they say it. We may well be mediocre but do they have to say it with a smile on their faces and glee in their voices? Pricks.

 

[ziad]

Are they wrong?

Apart from John Ralphs stupid criticism of Naitanui, they aren't exactly saying things we haven't heard or said here before.

I agree with most of the points they bought up to be honest, must be Vic biased too.

Ralph is an idiot paid to talk. No talk no job, the more ridiculous the better.
Ther others were disturbingly honest.

 

[gbp420]

Yep Ralph is a fool.

But Kingy is a smart bloke. He says it about every team. It's really important to know where you're at. Are you a contender? Rebuilding? On the cusp? Every club needs to know the answer to this, because if you get it wrong, the decisions you make from that analysis can be disastrous.

Johnson surprisingly knew a lot about us and the kids we drafted.

 

[Chris_6678]

2013 we were highly rated after 2012 and even last year after our NAB cup series we were rated a chance for the 8.

Look i know people are dissapointed with our performance in the NAB challenge but i do think we showed some good signs. It seems to me we are not showing all our cards early on like we did last year. I keep tabs on pre-season quite a bit and this year the fans and media have been kept well away from training that has involved any kid of simulation compared to previous years.

Some positives and negatives of this years pre-season:

- Nic nat full pre-season. Yes people winge he didn't play all 3 games but why risk it?
- JK is looking fitter than ever and looks set to be in for a big year.
- Shuey also looking fit and is needed to take that next step.
- Lecra looking the best since 2011 and unhindered by injury. The last 2 years has been getting over his knee and arm injuries and even though he still wears the guard he has looked pretty good.
- Lycett racking up the most minutes during the pre-seaon. Was used very little in the NAB games but i think this is to not wear him out to early. Can see him having a massive year alongside nic nat.
- Big improvements of Cripps and Shep. Cripps is good for a 25-30 goals. Sheps improvement gives us another attacking option if Hurn is tagged.
- Duggan, Waterman, Lamb and Nelson all looking like they can contribute this year and maybe play a few games.

Negatives:

- Darling & Emacs injuries. Not sure we will even see Darling back to his best till next year
- College and Tunbridge have not come on as well as i had hoped. College did have a good game on the weekend though.
- Constant niggles and injuries to Newman.
- Mcginnity possibly getting a game round 1. Do not see what he offers!

 

[bodazoka]

Agree with almost everything they said, Ralphy obviously puts the boot in Naita so he is the one people remember talking, his comparison to Watts proves that point. We would be better served by ignoring his comments and taking the others on board.

Kingy made the best point "The midfield at WC must love Naita, he gets all the blame and they get off scot free"

Masten, Shuey, Gaff, Selwood, Priddis, Wellingham <----- On current output these guys are second stringers and/or role players. Need to consistently lift... bro.

 

[Bestbird]

Agree with almost everything they said, Ralphy obviously puts the boot in Naita so he is the one people remember talking, his comparison to Watts proves that point. We would be better served by ignoring his comments and taking the others on board.

Kingy made the best point "The midfield at WC must love Naita, he gets all the blame and they get off scot free"

Masten, Shuey, Gaff, Selwood, Priddis, Wellingham <----- On current output these guys are second stringers and/or role players. Need to consistently lift... bro.

Think your being a bit harsh regarding the midfield as i think there is a fair bit of potential improvement from last season

Shuey and Gaff actually looked very good in the latter half of the season and are at an age where you expect further improvement, paticularly Gaff who from a NAB cup perspective looks to have matured a fair bit. Selwood was pretty much a non event last year due to injury and as a run with player could easily be a potential A grader. Wellingham has plenty of reason to apply himself (he has the talent) seeing as it is probably career over if his dosen't.

Then we also have NicNat with a full pre season and further improvement from Lycett in the Ruck.

And lastly Sheed and Duggan could but have some impact during the year as well.